Don’t Honor My Reservation? Dishonor On You! Dishonor On Your Cow!

A few months ago, I volunteered to plan my mother-in-law’s sixtieth birthday and my father-in-law’s sixty-fourth birthday with a weekend in wine country.

I wanted to take a group of ten to a new upscale restaurant, so I made a reservation months in advance. Because it was also a winery, we arrived two hours early and checked in with the restaurant to see if they could seat us earlier. Despite an empty restaurant, they said they couldn’t. That was no big deal; we understood, and they could be low-staffed, so we went and got some wine and hung out and listened to live music.

Close to our reservation time, I got a text from the restaurant to be seated. It was beginning to rain as we walked over to the hostess.

Hostess: “Because it’s raining and your table is outdoors, I won’t be able to seat your party tonight.”

Me: *As calmly as I can* “I’ve had this reservation for months. I’ve been here for two hours, and I was not told that my reservation was for an outdoor table or subject to cancellation due to rain. I wasn’t given a choice between outdoor or indoor seating. This is for a sixtieth and sixty-fourth birthday party. Could you split us up between multiple tables?”

The manager came over, and they both just kept saying that there was nothing they could do and that it wasn’t their fault… because “we can’t control the weather”.

I snapped a little.

Me: *Sharply* “Well, what you could have done was not reserve a table for a large party that you could not guarantee.”

The manager just shrugged.

We left, and because it was a Saturday at 6:00 pm, there was no way we were getting a table at another restaurant. I had to go to the grocery store and cook a full meal for ten people.

I emailed the manager to ask them if there was any way they could compensate us because our experience was so terrible. I got no response.

After a week or so, I made multiple email accounts and left what was a fairly new restaurant TEN different one-star reviews. In the reviews, I said that you should never book this restaurant if you have a large party. I talked about how they did not try to find us a table at another restaurant, how they had two hours to fix their error, how they booked out a table they could not guarantee, how they didn’t move a table under cover (which there was plenty), and how they didn’t provide any comps or otherwise make any attempt to fix their error. They ended up with a two-star drop in their Google rating because of my reviews. I left one review for every person that did not get a seat.

Several days after I posted, they reached out offering to comp a meal for my in-laws IF “our group” took the reviews down. I refused.